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Review
. 2022 Nov 15:730:109400.
doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2022.109400. Epub 2022 Sep 16.

Selenium status and type 2 diabetes risk

Ying-Chen Huang  1 , Gerald F Combs Jr  2 , Tung-Lung Wu  3 , Huawei Zeng  4 , Wen-Hsing Cheng  5
Affiliations
Review

Selenium status and type 2 diabetes risk

Ying-Chen Huang et al. Arch Biochem Biophys. .

Abstract

Optimal selenium (Se) status is necessary for overall health. That status can be affected by food intake pattern, age, sex, and health status. At nutritional levels of intake, Se functions metabolically as an essential constituent of some two dozen selenoproteins, most, if not all, of which have redox functions. Insufficient dietary intake of Se reduces, to varying degrees, the expression of these selenoproteins. Recent clinical and animal studies have indicated that both insufficient and excessive Se intakes may increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), perhaps by way of selenoprotein actions. In this review, we discuss the current evidence linking Se status and T2D risk, and the roles of 14 selenoproteins and other proteins involved in selenoprotein biosynthesis. Understanding such results can inform the setting of safe and adequate Se intakes.

Keywords: Selenium; Selenoprotein; Type 2 diabetes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations of competing interest None.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Stylized estimated risks of diabetes (– – • – – • – –, according to a meta-analysis of observational studies; ——, according to the same meta-analysis stratified with case-controlled studies only [48]) and overall health (dotted line; ….… [39]), and plateaued selenoprotein expression (solid line; — [57]) in relation to low and high Se status using serum Se concentration as the biomarker in humans.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Estimations of minimally required serum Se concentrations for the prevention of type 2 diabetes-like symptoms and the corresponding population in Americans. These numbers allow for calculations of the threshold value of 3.75% according to a standard normal table. AKT, mouse thymoma viral proto-oncogene; Se, selenium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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